Changes
by Mortarion77
Summary: NaruxHina fluff will have some actn in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

_Authors Note: This is my first fanfic, and as such is no doubt riddled with mistakes grammatically and vocabulary. I would appreciate it if you have any corrections to make in grammatical and word usage leave them in the comments, NO references as to how I write the story please. I do not own the naruto franchise or story line. :'( sniff (if any of you could leave me some info about Japanese honorifics/terms it would be appreciated.)_

Chapter 1

As he gazed up at the stars, he thought of many things, the exams, Saskue, Orochimaru. Then she came up, every now and then he would be with his thoughts and they would all turn to her. She had mainly kept contact between them at a minimum; she was shy, cute, and determined. These characteristics made her a good friend but why did he keep thinking about her? As the sun set Naruto Uzumaki turned his thoughts to Hinata Hyuuga.

Naruto woke up the next day feeling none to exceptional, and promptly began the ritual of heating up the ready-made ramen packets, the only food in his meager apartment. As he walked out the door he caught only a small glimpse of a dark-haired figure before whoever it was collided with him knocking him to the ground. He opened his eyes to find Hinatas pained face a few inches from his. "Naruto-kun are you all right?" exclaimed Hinata, Naruto noticed she was blushing furiously. "Hai" he said "no harm done, where are you going in such a hurry Hinata?" "I just wanted to see if you wanted to practice with me before we take the Jonin exams." "Oh, sure. I'm always up for a challenge." He said. "Ano, thank you." As Hinata spoke those words, her face turned a near scarlet shade of red. "Are you okay Hinata you look pretty red." he asked her. "No I'm fine." She said.

They made their way towards one of the many fenced in rooftops that were scattered throughout Konoha. "I'm not going to hold back on you, no matter what so you better take me seriously." Naruto said. "Okay, then I wont hold back either." Said Hinata. As she hyper-activated her Byakugan she began thinking to herself. "You fool, you saw how Neji did against him, your just going to lose and make a fool of yourself." She thought "Then he wont give you any thought at all." Naruto performed the shadow clone jutsu he was swiftly becoming famous for and created a ring around Hinata. He came at her all at once attacking from multiple directions, when he noticed her. She moved like a delicate blade of grass blowing in the wind. He knew right then, why he thought of her at night, why he couldn't get her out of his mind, he was in love. It was then that he realized that while he was captivated by her she had taken out all of his clones and was aiming a punch at him. It made contact with his stomach. He tasted blood on his mouth, as he fell he saw a horrified look on Hinatas face. As she caught him and spouted numerous apologies, he smiled, "Your fine just get granny Tsunade." He promptly blacked out.

He woke up wearing the all too familiar hospital robes, as he took in his surroundings he noticed a distraught looking Hinata and a rather stressed Tsunade bending over him. "He's fine for the last time." Said Tsunade "He just needs rest for a week or so. Now I suggest you tell his squad the story, they don't even know he's here yet for heavens sake." "Yes Hokage-sama." Replied Hinata. She ran out of the room, blushing furiously when she realized Naruto had seen her. "Hey granny-Tsunade, what happened?" after a quick crack on the head Tsunade answered "You've been in here about 3 hours. Hinata apparently damaged many of your organs but they're healing fast so you should be fine physically, however she did manage to strike a chakra point and whatever she did to it I've been unable to heal. However, Hinata told me that it was loosening and healing by itself, so you should be fine in a week." "Great" said Naruto as he made to get out of bed. Tsunade pushed him back down "However, I know how you are so I can predict you'd probably strain it before it's healed so I'm confining you to bed rest for a week, then we'll check on you." Naruto sat down and pouted "But what if I'm needed on some important mission? What about the village, you said you needed all the ninja ready for duty." "The injured ones don't count." She left a very unhappy Naruto as she closed the door. When Naruto looked back on that week it was a very dull and unhappy memory. Yet he was glad of the time to get his thoughts together. He put together all he knew about Hinata and reasons why he kept on thinking of her. Yet try as he might he couldn't think of a single thing. All of his friends visited him but he noticed something different about Hinata, she would always stand at the back of the group as quiet as he had ever seen her. Whenever he spoke to her she always looked at her feet and quietly responded. All the other ninja shared a knowing look with each other but Naruto always seemed to be out of it. On the last day of the week he asked Hinata to stay behind, "Yes Naruto?" she asked. She seemed even more embarrassed now than ever, "Why are you so shy around me?" he asked. Hinata looked the slightest bit surprised, she steeled herself "Isn't it obvious?" "Not to me." He said. Hinata looked like she was about to cry, what she did next was the one thing that she had never dreamed she'd be able to do. She grabbed the front Naruto's shirt and pulled her face into it. She was crying, "How thick can you get?" she sobbed into his chest "I love you; I have had a crush on you since the first day of the academy! And you're telling me you haven't noticed in all this time?" Naruto paused, as he gazed down at the Inky blue hair he saw it all clearly, it explained all that he had noticed about Hinata, it also she liked him and it appeared now that he was noticing her, his thinking about her, it all clicked. She liked him and he was beginning to return that feeling. He paused, and put a hand on her back, "I love you too." He said. At this she stopped crying, his words slowly being processed in her mind. "You…love me?" she said. "With all my heart." He said. He was finally making sense of his feelings, this was what he had felt all this time, silent but still there, his feelings were making them selves known. As he held Hinata in an embrace, he looked up at the sky and wondered what the future would hold for them.

_Authors Note: well waddaya think? Good? Bad? Leave me comments I am working on the next chapter right now. I note that this is short, but I promise to make the next one longer._


	2. Chapter 2

_Authors Note: thank you for the encouragement I received for the first chapter. I am pretty dang proud of it even though it took forever. Here is the 2__nd__ chapter in all its glory. Also sorry if this was a long delay, I am new to fanfic and what is long and what isn't. Odds are by the time your reading this it has been done for 2 days or so and I should have got it out sooner._

The following week was a happy memory for Naruto. Anyone who cared to know knew that he and Hinata were in love. But he didn't care; all that mattered was that now he had found someone to confide in and to speak his mind to. Public awareness was not an issue for Hinata either, she was happy that now her lifelong crush and hero was acknowledging her, more than that he was head over heels for her. Hiashi Hyuuga soon found out about their relationship, but contrary to what most were expecting, he was glad that his daughter was coming out of her shell, that she was smiling and laughing, being less shy than she normally was. One day the 5th hokage began assigning missions left and right and the true burden of their love was realized. They began to fear that they would be sent on separate missions even with the upcoming Junín exams, then the fear that one of them might not come back was unleashed. On one morning their fears came to be. They met at their accustomed spot on the head of the fourth Hokage, as soon as Hinata arrived she threw herself into Naruto's waiting arms. She buried her head in his chest savoring the now familiar smells that she had come to associate with him. "I've been given a mission." She said. "So have I." was his reply. "Will you be okay?  
He asked. "I should be, it's a C rank escort mission so there should be little trouble." She said "what about you." "Pervy Sage wants me to accompany him on one of his research gathering missions so ill probably end up giving him my wallet, no danger there except going broke." "Are you sure?" she pleaded "I know how many people are after you and I want you to come back." "I'll be fine." he said "I'll come back." She looked up at him, a determined and sincere look on her face "Promise" she said bluntly. "I promise," he said "but not if you don't." "I promise too she said." They spent the rest of the day sitting on the rock, talking and enjoying each others company in the precious hours they had left before they were torn apart. As they prepared to part ways she stopped him. As he looked at her she grabbed him behind the head and pressed her lips to his, trying to pull him closer as if that would make the moment last forever. She rested her forehead against his and whispered to him "You better keep that promise." With that he ginned at her and said "Only for you." With that he leapt out into the night air.

The next day as Naruto met Jiraya he noticed something different about him. He looked serious, "What's with the face pervy sage?" "I have to go on a mission; we are to collect any and all data that is relevant to Akatsuki." At the mention of the organization Naruto's heart beat quicker. "What happened?" "Some of the other villages have reported attacks on their demon containers so we are going to look out for ours." He said "We're going to keep you mobile so they'll have a harder time finding you." "Oh" Naruto said "where are the leads taking us." Jiraya looked at him intently "To the village hidden in the mist." "They were last seen there, apparently trying to capture their demon container." As they left the gates of Konoha Naruto looked back on them, remembering the last time he had passed through them. It had been when Sasuke was kidnapped he had made a promise to Sakura to bring him back no matter what. "I still haven't given up on that promise Sakura." He thought silently.

Hinata sat in the waiting are silently dreading her mission, it was to be her last mission before she took the Junín exams along with all the other chunin. As her name was called she stood up and nervously approached the door. "Hinata your mission is a B-rank reconnaissance mission." Said the 5th Hokage as she entered. "As you can see we are short on ninja but have an abundance of missions, this is why you will be handling it by yourself." "You are to search the village hidden in the mist for any signs of trouble. There has been much talk of Ninja wearing a Konoha headband causing trouble there, and they have requested our help." "Yes Hokage-sama." She replied. She left the room already thinking about how quickly she could complete the mission so she could see Naruto as soon as possible.

Naruto sighed, although they had been searching for signs of Akatsuki for 5 days they had found little. Not only that but pervy sage had been up to the usual stunts. As of now Naruto was stone broke. He was sitting on the outskirts of a village waiting for Jiraya to finish his "research". As he waited he heard a stick crack, "That better be you pervy sage." He said about to launch into a prepared speech when he hesitated, he heard the sound of jingling bells. He froze trying to extend his senses, fingers already poised to begin Shadow Clone technique. He heard footsteps to his left and threw a Kunai; he heard the rustling of leaves and a small wind than nothing but the constant jingling of bells.

Hinata woke up, she checked her rations, not much left shed been at this 5 days now and no signs on nins wearing Konoha headbands. She was beginning to doubt there were any at all, and then she heard a rustling and a silent chuckle accompanied by the jingling of bells.

_Should I leave ya there or not? _

_Whatever I promised I'd make this one longer._

Naruto stood stock still not even breathing, all of a sudden someone rushed out of the trees and ran into him. As he looked up he saw the calm face of Itachi Uchiha, "Goodbye" he said. Naruto's vision blurred, the sky turned red, the sun was a pale white and right in front of him were the bodies of Hinata, Sakura and all his friends, standing over them was Sasuke, one eye was that of the Magenkyo Sharingan, the other was Orochimarus. Sasuke raised a sword and charged, the same scene appeared again, he tried to fight but there was no Kunai in his pouch, he died once more. The scene repeated itself, again, and again, and again, and again… He let loose a scream that noone could hear.

Hinata turned suddenly as a large sword wrapped in cloth appeared out of nowhere and came at her, she narrowly avoided it and began running, leaving all but her weapons behind, she thought of Naruto "I won't die, for your sake Naruto" she thought to herself. As she was running she heard a calm clear voice say "goodbye." She turned toward the sound and saw a man who looked much like Sasuke bending over Naruto, she froze, for a second Naruto had a look of utter terror on his face, then he snapped out of it and fell to the ground muttering to himself. She stood there shocked, and then she remembered the threat behind her when she was snatched up in an abnormally tight grip. "Itachi, look what I've found." Came a raspy voice. At the name of Itachi she froze, Itachi Uchiha was one of the infamous Konoha rouges, second only to Orochimaru, he had reportedly murdered the entire Uchiha clan when she was very young, Sasuke was the only survivor. "What is it?" he asked. "Some snooping Konoha brat, should I kill it?" "Do with it as you will, he is our only interest." "Of course" said Itachi's companion. Before he could do anything, a orange blur came out of nowhere knocking the man holding her off his feet. Hinata hurried away to Naruto's side, he was still muttering to himself "…don't kill them Sasuke, don't kill them…" As she looked at him Jiraya came out of nowhere and sent the toad after Itachi, even Itachi wasn't going to bet on his chances against one of the legendary Sanin, he quickly left as did his companion.

As Naruto clenched his head he was aware of being grabbed tightly and pulled against something warm, tears fell on his face, "…don't leave Naruto, please answer me! Please come back…" he was dimly aware of being put on someone's back and being carried somewhere, but all the time all he could remember was Sasuke standing over Hinatas dead body.

Hinata waited silently outside of Naruto's room, Tsunade-sama had been in there for 6 hours straight sending occasionally for food of drink. She was worried, Naruto had been under ever since Jiraya had carried him back to the village, she hoped nothing was wrong with him, going through life without her loved one was unbearable. Even now she still felt strange calling him her loved one. She could not believe that after all this time they were finally acknowledging each other, let alone dating. The door opened, this time Tsunade-sama stepped out, her eyes thoughtful. She turned to Hinata "Naruto's going to be fine physically but psychologically he's still sick. I've tried everything I can but he is not going to come out unless I can find something he'll react to. You can stay the night here if you want." "Thank you Hokage-sama." She said. That night she stayed in a chair next to Naruto silently calling him, willing him to wake up. But he didn't, eventually she went to bed continually hearing the sounds of disturbed dreams coming from Naruto's bed.

Hinata woke the next morning, rushing over to Naruto's bed to check on him. He was still asleep, fitfully tossing and turning just like the night before. She sighed, she once again sat down to wait.

Naruto kept on seeing the same thing over and over, Sasuke standing over his friends' bodies, Hinatas face frozen in screams of agony. Then something different came. He was standing in front of a large metal doorway with a seal upon it. He heard a growling from beyond. "You again, what is it now? Do you need my power weakling?" "No," said Naruto "I just need somewhere to think." "Why here? You have plenty of empty space in your head, use it." Said the Kyubi. "I need to talk to you also." He stated plainly. "What is it?" "If I die will you die also, or will you be released?" he asked. "Such a foolish question!" Kyubi answered "demons don't die, you mortal. I will be released." "If I die will I have your word that you will not attack Konoha?" "I'm not going to make promises I cant keep." Was the simple reply. Naruto sat thinking for a while, "Why did you attack Konoha in the first place?" he asked. "Such a strange question," The demon exclaimed "noone ever asked me that. The answer is that humans are notorious for picking what looks good even though they know it's bad. They knew that that land was mine, but they began building on it anyway." "You killed so many ninjas just cause the were building on your land?" "Yeah, kind of ironic, everyone thinks I attacked just cuz'. Now don't you think you should get back to your girlfriend before she drowns you?"

As Naruto woke up he felt tears on his face, he looked up and saw Hinata crying over him, she was whispering to herself "…bring him back please bring him back, don't let him be dead please don't let him be dead…" He reached up and brushed a tear off of her face, she looked down "Naruto?" she asked. "Yea, I'm back." As soon as he was done speaking she pulled him into a deep embrace, he kissed the top of her head as she began to cry into his neck, her sobs racking her delicate body. He looked down at her, and was at peace for the first time in what felt like days.

_How's this? I did the best I could to integrate what was going to be chapter 3 and 4 but once I saw how small one came out I put them together so it would be longer. Enjoy! And here's a hint for those of you sticking with me. The junin (jonin?) exams are coming and I plan to develop Kyubi as a more prominent character. Until next time._


	3. Chapter 3

_Authors Note: Hi and welcome to the 3__rd__ installment of changes, a Naruto fanfic. Hopefully I will break the tradition and end this chapter outside of the hospital, (Yeah the hospital scenes have been done already.) As of now I'm not going to post these for length but only when I reach a dead stop in the story and have to think about what will happen. These should come out fairly quickly (Hey I'm imaginative.) but expect a delay if it looks like something big is coming._

The following weeks after Naruto's hospitalization were mostly spent in training, the Junin exams were coming up fast and the expectations were high. Naruto spent most of his time training against Hinata. This was mainly so that they would have little worries about facing each other when it came to the rounds. It also provided them with a chance to match themselves against their unique abilities. After one such training session Naruto asked Hinata "Why didn't you go for Sasuke like the other girls?" Hinata looked at the sky. "Well" she said slowly "There was no one there for you, and you were all that I wanted to be. Sasuke just had everything already but you had to make your own way." She stared at the ground now "I would never go for anyone but you." She said. "I'm just looking back," said Naruto "and wondering how stupid I was; now that I'm with you I see how obvious your feelings were. I feel a little embarrassed to tell the truth." He scratched the back of his head. "I'm worried," she confessed "Now that I have you, I'm constantly fearing that I'll lose you." "Don't worry," he said "Nothing but death will keep us apart." He had apparently said something wrong for she promptly sat down crying, "That's what I mean," she choked "I keep worrying that you'll die." He sat down next to her, throwing a comforting arm around her shoulders. "I'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen" he said, giving her a toothy smile. He looked up into the sunset just being glad Hinata was with him. She, still crying, leaned against him and eventually fell asleep with her head resting on his chest. As he felt her breathing he looked up at the stars exhilarated just to be here, to be coming closer to his goal of becoming Hokage.

The next morning Hinata woke up and realized she had spent the night in the training grounds. Whispering a hurried "goodbye" to Naruto who was still asleep, she rushed off to explain to her father. She came home to a pleasant surprise, a note had been tacked to the door. "Hinata, your mother and I are off on a matter of family business, we will be gone for a week, there is enough food in the house for that time. Remember train hard. Hiashi." She instantly felt relieved; there was no need to tell them, she was fine. A whole week she could spend with Naruto. She felt free and unrestrained. However, food was necessary for the human body, she went in to find something to eat.

Naruto sat there staring up into the morning sky, thinking. Hinata must have left earlier in the day there was no one else here. He turned his mind inward to the point where he was alone with his thoughts…and Kyubi. "Hello there, violent and unrepressed demon." He said. "Why are you so happy?" said a grumpy voice. "Why not?" came the frustrating un-answer. "If you're so happy why must you torment me?" he growled. "What?" he said confused. "I'm locked in here while you have free reign to the outside world, it bothers me." He explained, as if to a slow child. "Well I'm not sure how I got here and I don't know how to leave so until I figure out how, were stuck here." Kyubi growled angrily, he prowled behind the bars, how he longed to be free, to feel earth under his feet, as opposed to the cramped conditions of this weakling. He knew that he had little choice though, the Akatsuki were after the boy so that they could attempt to control him. He nearly laughed HIM the most powerful tailed demon there is? How dare those mortals think they could even touch him let alone control him. He looked out, the boy had gotten up, he had turned towards the wall. "I think I've got it figured out." He said. "Hmm," he thought to himself "the boy catches on quickly, of course he would if he's HIS son." He watched as a hole appeared in the wall, there were voices and trees beyond. Then it closed, he flinched, a short glimpse of the world he missed so much. He held in his anger.

"Naruto, wake up." Said Hinata gently, shoving him some. He stirred, then immediately held up his hand to protect his eyes. "Oh," he said drearily "Hey Hinata, what time is it?" "Nearly 9:00," she answered "I've got you some breakfast." She held out a take out order of ramen. "Wow, thanks Hinata." He said digging in. She walked behind him and sat down, leaning against his back. She looked up at the sky, "My parents are gone this weekend." She said, trying to sound offhand. "My sister said she wouldn't tell them I was here last night, so I was wondering if you wanted to stay at my place for a while." Naruto looked up at her, "Yeah that'd be nice," he said. Hinatas heart leapt, "Just one thing" interrupted Naruto, "We still have training." She smiled, he could be completely focused on anything if he really tried. "Sure," she said "but I thought we'd take the day off and go for a walk or something." "Ok," he said "If you want to."

They were about a mile out of Konoha before they stopped. "I think this is as far as we can go until the security is relaxed." Said Naruto "What say we turn back?" he said, turning around. Hinata was frozen, staring at something on the ground, hands clapped over her mouth. A dead body wearing a Konoha headband, was lying mangled in a bush his blood staining the leaves. His front looked like it had been cut in a million different places. Naruto heard a branch snap behind him, he whipped out a Kunai, and threw it over his shoulder. He heard leaves rustling as something moved away. "Naruto above you!" shrieked Hinata. He looked up, hanging upside down was Sasuke Uchiha. "Hey" he said. Naruto quickly aimed a punch at his head. With speed approaching invisibility Sasuke dodged easily. "Why did you kill him?" shouted Naruto, still aiming punches at Sasuke. "What are you talking about? I just got here, I'm following my brother." Naruto stopped mid-punch. Suddenly the marks on the body took on a familiar shape. He turned around praying he wasn't too late. He was, Hinata was beat up all over and being held up by Itachi's companion. He rushed at them a rage he had never known over-taking him. Sasuke beat him there, he was instantly blocked by Itachi. "You haven't activated the Magenkyo Sharingan yet, I won't fight you until you have." Sasuke smiled, quickly making a series of complex hand signs. From out of nowhere a mass of snakes came out and latched on to Itachi, Itachi tried to send it back using his Sharingan, but Sasuke's own Sharingan countered it, barely. Meanwhile Naruto had recklessly charged the other one. His eyes turned red, his teeth and fingernails lengthened into fangs and claws, deep down inside him, something stirred.

Kyubi looked up, a light had appeared in his cage, the boy fell through it. He looked up, "I'm going to need your help." He said. "When do you not?" said Kyubi, delightedly as he jumped towards a fainter light that had appeared in his cage.

Kyubi felt wonderful, he was in the outside world, in a weaker body true, but out once more. He saw that he was running towards a ninja formerly from the village hidden in the mist, he saw his hosts girlfriend in his grasp. For some reason he felt a strange sense of protectiveness for her. He growled and reached out trying to harm the one who had attacked his host's lover. As he did this he thought, he felt a strange protectiveness over them, as if they were his own cubs. "It matters not," he thought "I am out and I should enjoy it while I can." The ninja dodged out of the way dropping the girl, he caught her, and laid her down in the embrace of a tree's roots. Then he turned his attention to the one who had did this to her. The ninja spotting the changed features of his combatant called out to his companion "Itachi!" he said "the demons here." Itachi vanished on the spot returning somewhere behind him. They both performed complex Justus's and began concentrating on keeping the Kyubi in the spot where he was.

Sasuke looked up and saw his brother and his companion doing something to Naruto. He saw his chance, he grabbed a kunai and ran at his brothers back. Itachi must have been concentrating hard because he didn't notice his brother running at him, only when his traveling companion warned him did he see the flaws in his plan. He felt the touch of cold metal splitting open his back heading towards his heart. Everything suddenly went black.

Sasuke felt strange, he felt confused. He had done it; in on stroke he had completed what had been his life's focus up until now. He didn't know what to do, should he return to Orochimaru and fulfill the promise he had made, the day that he had entered that building of his. Or should he go home to his friends, the ones he had turned his back on just to complete this task. He was confused; all of a sudden he noticed a many bladed sword swinging towards him.

Hinata woke up, she saw Naruto engulfed in a field of what looked like lightning, one of the attackers was dead the other was attacking Sasuke. She gasped; Sasuke held up his arms in a desperate attempt to shield himself but was quickly thrown back into a tree. He slumped lifeless to the ground. The attacker, clearly satisfied with his work turned to Naruto. Hinata screamed and shook her head not knowing what to do. When she looked back up Naruto was gone. She cried, yelling at herself for not doing something for being a coward. Then she remembered that Sasuke needed medical attention. She was torn, should she do her duty as a Konoha ninja and save Sasuke, or should she go after her beloved. She knew she wouldn't stand a chance against that ninja with his sword. A while later Konoha hospital had a new patient.

Sakura was rather busy, all week long she had been training for the Junin exams but she still felt weak. Someone brushed past her, she turned around to yell at them but froze, it was Sasuke, here in Konoha. She felt like she didn't know what to do. She was torn between hugging him and hitting him for leaving. She compromised she threw herself in a none to gentle manner into his back crying a little. He turned around, looking down at her. His gaze softened, "Sorry" he said. She couldn't believe it, he was back and he was no longer the quiet, never get in my way type. Just the way he spoke that one word seemed different than how he would have said when they met. It was tender, loving, he really seemed sorry for what he had done. She looked up into his face tears streaming down her face. She managed to pull a smile, "Promise me you'll never leave again." She said. He looked down at her seeing her in a way he had never seen her before. "I promise." He said. "In fact you can come help me." She felt triumphant, "What is it?" she asked. "Naruto was taken by Akatsuki; I'm not going to rest until I get him back." She smiled, "Of course." She said, this was real; they were going to be a team again.

_Well, sorry for the wait, things have been hectic,(Internet crashed, Halo 3 came out BOO-YAH [it rocks and I haven't had much time too work on this. I am glad thought that the story has had some more time to get noticed (I hope). I also think things got rushed at the end, Sasuke killing his brother and Sakura meeting him. Let me know what you think, I could really use more feedback._


	4. Chapter 4

_Authors Note: Sorry for the break it has been a busy time for me and I actually lost my laptop which had all my files concerning this chapter on it so I had to forge on without notes. However, it has been found and I now present the 4__th__ chapter in Changes._

Naruto woke up, groggy. He looked around, studying his surroundings. He was in a cave with dripping stalactites and the distant sound of running water. There was a metal crosshatch shutting him off from escape. He slowly got up and looked for any way to get out. Then he noticed someone else sitting inside his cell. It was a boy around his age with shoulder length brown hair. He was asleep on a rickety cot and looked extremely thin. Naruto shoved him awake. "Hey" he said in his cheerful voice "Who are you and where am I?" The boy looked at him with surprisingly gold eyes. "Another one?" he said "Your in the cave of Akatsuki, My name is Shinoto. What village are you from?" he asked. "I'm from Konoha" Naruto replied. "So they finally got you." Said Shinoto, "They were always talking about you, their absolute goal." "Who was?" asked Naruto. "The various members of Akatsuki." Was the reply "They appear to be on a self-appointed quest to capture and control all the tailed demons and their containers." Naruto looked out to the cave wondering what might happen to him and where Hinata was right now.

At that moment Hinata was running to catch up with Sasuke and Sakura, they had promised that she could come with them to rescue Naruto and she was late. As she ran to catch up she hoped with all her heart that Naruto was safe. She saw them they were waiting at the gates looking for her. She ran up to them and stopped at a post to catch her breath. "What took you so long?" asked Sakura. "I got caught up packing my stuff," she gasped "I haven't used it in a while." Indeed the kunai and throwing stars were looking a little worse for the wear but Hinata wore such a fierce look of determination on her face there was probably very little that those weapons couldn't do in her hands. "Lets go she said." They leaped off. The previous day Sasuke had gone out and tracked Naruto's kidnappers to their lair. It was a cave that was equally distant from all the villages in order to give optimum strike times.

Naruto sat and focused, he had cuffs around his hand that would prevent hand signs from being formed. He was in a cave with no idea what to do or where he was, and he missed Hinata, very much. He focused on his memories of Hinata and the strength they provided him. He looked around for a weak spot on the cage bars. There were none, at least not on cursory inspection. He looked closer and noticed what appeared to be small scratches on the bars. He put together his hands and made a large fist, with all his might he brought it down on the cracks. He pulled them away, there was very little difference. He thought of the possibility of never seeing Hinata again and of being trapped in here forever, he struck all the harder. The resounding thuds echoed through the cave rebounding over and over.

Hinata, Sakura, and Sasuke were hiding in trees outside the cave watching it. So far there had been no activity in or out of it. "All right," said Sasuke "if nothing happens in 5 minutes I'm going in." They all nodded in silent agreement, the minutes ticked away. Sasuke got up and removed a kunai. They followed suit all of them wondering what they might encounter in the cave. They rushed in ready for anything, except what they saw next. They were standing at the top of a stairway that led down to a maze that stretched on in all directions for miles on end. "Whatever happens stick together." Said Sasuke. They began running towards the maze aiming to land on top of it and run on the walls. As soon as they landed they noticed something. From the vantage point they were on they could see many traps and weapons that people would be unable to see from the maze itself. Already there were many skeletons littering the ground. From their apparel only a few of them were ninja. They stood up "Where should we go?" asked Sakura "there are three directions barring the one we came from." Sasuke looked around "In most mazes the general idea is to get to the other side seeing as getting to the center of this maze probably wouldn't get us any closer to finding Naruto I vote we go straight forward." It sounded logical enough to Sakura and Hinata so they agreed. The leapt off into the depths of the cave.

Naruto was making progress, at first his hands felt fine, now they felt like some one had dropped a few houses on them and a few full grown bull elephants for good measure. They were sore and the cage wasn't looking much different than when he had started out. He tried a different tactic, he put his back to the wall and pushed against the bars with his feet. There! He saw the bar visibly move, not much but it was progress. He pushed harder this time. The going was slow but he was making visible change on it.

The trio had been going for some time now and had not seen any change other than a huge bank of fog rolling in. The skeletons had reduced now, not many people had made it far. Sasuke suddenly stopped "Stop" he called, they came to a halt and looked around. They couldn't see anything, this was normal but it was also different. Then they realized something, there was a chasm of nothing which seemed as big as the maze had and with seemingly no way across it. They did catch a bridge, very thin that spanned it, and barely visible in the distance was a door. They ran across it in single file running towards the one goal.

Naruto heard something crack, and this time it wasn't his back. It was the cage, it was slowly coming apart from the constant pressure. The Akatsuki had long since taken Shinoto away, one of them had promised with an unpleasant laugh to come and take Naruto to. He resolved not to let that happen. He kept on pushing and then suddenly the door fell off. He looked up there was Sasuke, Sakura and Hinata. Before he could say anything he was blinded by Hinatas jacket. She had grabbed him in the tightest hug he had ever experienced. She was silently crying her tears falling down onto his head. He hugged her back. He then got up to say thanks to Sasuke and Sakura who were staring pointedly away. "Before you say anything lets leave" said Sasuke "I don't like this place." They got up and rushed out the doorway knocking over two people who had evidently been going to get Naruto. The two ninja after shaking their heads a minute looked up and began running after them, this time the run over the maze took less time then the first as things tend to do when stuff like this happens. As they ran toward the flight of steps that would bring them safety Sasuke shouted "As soon as you get out turn left and run with your hands over your head, don't stop." Before they had gone in Sasuke had planted all his teams explosives under some loose rubble that would hold off any pursuing Ninja long enough for them to get a decent lead. It did before they knew it they were in the blessedly still shining sun and heading towards Konoha village with a considerable amount of dust behind them. By sunset they were back enjoying ramen at the local restaurant and trying to forget about all that had happened to them that day.

Naruto and Hinata sat on top of the statue of the fourth hokage looking at the stars. "Naruto," Hinata said "About what happened." "What" he asked. "Don't ever let us be separated again." She said. He smiled "I promise, that will never happen again."

As Naruto dropped Hinata off at her house she turned to him. "One last thing." She said. "What is it" Naruto said looking at her. She pulled him into a hug which turned into a kiss. Naruto returned it with all his heart. As he walked home that night he was very happy indeed.

_Authors Note: This officially marks the end of the story Changes. Expect a sequel sometime (indefinite), but for now no more, sorry that I couldn't fit all I wanted in this but college homeworklate nightsdeath. And REALLY sorry for the especially long delay. However I do hope you enjoyed it and on the subject of things that I have found time to do does Halo 3 not kick ass. The campaign ending was very satisfying if you haven't seen it I wont spoil it for you but it could give people some good fanfic material………_


	5. Update

This serves merely as an update for those of you who were kind enough to add me to your author alert. My laptop has crashed due to a virus and at this point it's going to be cheaper for me to buy a new one than fix it. I am trying to back up all my notes but until such a time you shouldn't expect the sequel for a while. I'm probably going to end up putting it off till summer when college work is very low. Have a happy holiday.


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